An announcement was made on Wednesday by the German government about the creation of a new security agency that will be responsible for the study and innovation of Germany's state of the art defence and security technology. The acency ought to start business as soon as possible and aims at having 100 employees. This can only happen after the Finance Ministry gives its consent since the agency will be set up as a limited liability corporation. If everything goes according to plan, then the agency can be operational as early as the start of 2019.

The Agency

The agency's name is "Agentur für Disruptive Innovationen in der Cybersicherheit und Schlüsseltechnologien" or Agency for Disruptive Innovations in Cybersecurity and Key Technologies (ADIC). The agency will be supervised by both interior and defence ministries. In her speech in May, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen stated that the agency will be equivalent to United States' DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ).

Tasks

According to the Defence Minister, this agency will be tasked with the development of modern technologies for security and defence, protection of vital digital framework among many other functions. The agency would also participate in agency projects in collaboration with European Union countries.

Reception

A few lawmakers fear that an agency managed by both the Defence and Interior ministries could bring about issues. Green party digital speaker Konstantin von Notz argued that the creation of this agency goes against the work of the Foreign Ministry. On the flip side, some parties seem to take the news well and state that more security is good for the country since it will bring about better encryption.